Governance and Violent Conflicts in Nigeria

Abstract

The fate of any nation rests on the effectiveness and efficiency of its governance. The purpose of governance is essentially to promote collective interest of the citizenry of the state through effective and efficient management. In the recent times, the phenomenon of governance has assumed a central place in the analysis of various issues such as pervading underdevelopment, macro-economic disequilibria, policy performance failure, leadership crisis and recurring conflicts across the world. This paper examines the recurring violent conflicts in the context of the nature governance in Nigeria. The paper, which is based on the study of secondary sources of data revealed that successive governments in Nigeria largely exemplify the phenomenon of bad governance, which manifests in chronic poverty, massive unemployment, pervasive corruption, policy performance failure and infrastructure decay that engenders frustration, disillusionment and psycho-moral dislocation that create the enabling environment for the eruption of various forms of violent conflicts. Thus, the paper concludes if the recurrence of vicious conflicts in Nigeria can be effectively checked governance must be intended to address common needs, problems and interests.

Keyword: Governance, violence, conflict, power, and Nigeria.